Voluntary Turnover Rates on the Rise

The average voluntary turnover rate was 11.3% from March
2003 to the same month in 2004. Overall, turnover rate,
both voluntary and involuntary, was 17.6%. The majority of
respondents to the survey, stated that this number had
either increased or stayed the same in the past 12 months.
Only 20.9% of respondents thought that this rate had
decreased.

The industries with the highest voluntary turnover rates
are business services and sales, with 20.7% and 13.4%
turnover rates respectively. Overall turnover rates in
these industries were 26.5% and 26.8%.

Of all employee functional groups, Administrative and
Production level positions show the highest voluntary
turnover rates, and also take the shortest amount of time
to fill. The CRI survey reported that overall, the cost of
turnover to organizations is on average between one-half to
one times the employee’s salary.

Industries with low voluntary turnover are Engineering,
Manufacturing, Pharmaceuticals, and Utility/Energy, with
5.5%, 4.2%, 8.1%, and 3.6% voluntary turnover rates
respectively. The overall turnover rates in these
industries were, in the same order, 8.4%, 7.4%, 13.5%, and
6.4%.

Participants in the survey also indicated that employees
usually leave current jobs because of better pay options,
better opportunities, and increased responsibilities
elsewhere. Another reason is involuntary layoffs.

CRI, a compensation and human resources consulting firm,
polled companies in over 10 separate industries. For a full
list of industries with their voluntary and total turnover
rates as well as commentary see the
survey.